Unit 30 Level 3 (Upper Intermediate - Advanced) If I Had Known

As you already know, besides being used when we want to express that something happened before a specific time in the past, the past perfect tense may also convey a regret about the past (I wish + past perfect) or an impossible condition, that is, something that might have happened, but didn't (third conditional)



1) First of all, we were going to review the use of the past perfect with these videos:

Third Conditional

Wish




2) Listen and read some theory in English about the use of “wish + past perfect” and the third conditional here and here.




3) Time to do some practice with these exercises:

Third Conditional 1

Third Conditional 2

Third Conditional 3

Wish 1

Wish 2 (click on “Download”)

Wish 3

Wish 4

Wish 5




4) Translate the following sentences into English:

a) Si tus padres no se hubiesen conocido jamás, ahora mismo sería un hombre muy infeliz.

b) Ojalá Michael nunca hubiera confiado en él.

c) Si no hubiese cogido este estúpido resfriado, podría haber ido a tu fiesta.

d) ¿Cuál sería su legado si hubiese dimitido en 2004 y aceptado un puesto en la Comisión Europea?

e) Ojalá mi coche no se hubiese averiado.




5) Practising with your language exchange is a “must”. Use sentences and expressions like those you have just learnt. Remember: Make sentences and repeat them aloud.




6) Now let's learn some vocabulary with The Economist. Choose 15 words you don't know from the following text, find their meaning, and make 5 sentences with each. Then, check on the internet if there are similar sentences on native speakers' sites.




7) Listen and read this story from BBC Learning English. You should learn all the vocabulary and practice pronunciation.




8) Finally, write a short paragraph (about 120 words) using sentences similar to those form the exercises above. Remember: Check your sentences by comparing them to native speakers' sentences on the internet.

If you have done all the exercises, then you've scored a 10! Well done!



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Key to exercise 4:

a) If your parents hadn't ever met, I'd be very a very unhappy man right now.

b) I wish Michael hadn't ever trusted him.

c) If I hadn't come down with this silly cold, I could have gone to your party.

d) What would his legacy be if he had stepped down in 2004 and taken a job at the EU

commission?

e) I wish my car hadn't broken down Imprimir